


nightmarist/dimitri

by VTheTrashKing



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Fluff, Hallucinations, I HAVE FINALLY ACQUIRED THE GAME, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Nightmares, One Shot, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Sleepy Boys, Soft Claude von Riegan, Soft Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24008515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VTheTrashKing/pseuds/VTheTrashKing
Summary: Dimitri wakes up from a nightmare and finds solace in Claude's messy room.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 102





	nightmarist/dimitri

**Author's Note:**

> Title is based on Egoist/flower (Egoist/Oonuma Paseri).
> 
> I don't want to clog up the notes section, nor detract from the actual fic, here, but by GOD I am so happy I got my grubby hands on this game, I've been waiting for months, and oh my god is it great. I just began the Post Timeskip for Azure Moon and WOW - Dimitri is not okay.

Dimitri couldn’t breathe. Smoke filled his lungs. Flames heated his skin, lighting up the corpses around him. Dimitri’s mind warped and now he found himself standing. Daylight replaced the haunting sunset. The fires were more tame, but no less dangerous. Screams rattled his head. Soldiers killing innocent people. Crazed villagers killing each other. 

The villagers Byleth couldn’t save, the people Dimitri lost to the tragedy held him down. Pinned him against the bloodied dirt pathways, digging their disfigured hands into his arms and legs. A wrinkled gray hand reached for his neck, _squeezing._

Dimitri spasmed, but made no move to help himself. His eyes bulged out of his skull. His mouth hung open. Blackened fingernails clawed at his right eye, while another hand dragged itself down his cheek. Dozens of hands ripped through his uniform. Dark blue blood stained their burnt fingers. They pulled at his pale skin, tearing through his chest. Crooked, disembodied index fingers secured the flesh to the ground. 

Hands grabbed at his organs, removing them, devouring them.

A vivisection. 

Dimitri would allow it. They could take _anything_ from him. His rotten mind, his bloodied, monstrous hands. That’s all he needed for his revenge. All he needed to put his ghosts to rest.

_**Save us, Dimitri.** _

_**Why didn’t you help us?** _

_**Mommy and Daddy are gone.** _

_**Dimitri, my son, don’t you remember your promise? Take revenge. For us!** _

_**Goodnight. Welcome home, Dimitri.** _

_I’m home._

The scene shifted. The hands vanished. Dimitri sat on a wooden chair with an old yellow cushion. His hands were tied behind his back. Across from him was Claude von Riegan, hiding his fake smile behind a steaming cup of tea. He slowly brought the tea cup down onto the round dark wood table. Yellow blood splatter formed underneath the cup. The edge of the pristine dove white cup cracked. Claude smiled. A sickly, tired one. It looked so _wrong_ on his tan face. 

“Hey there, Your Princeliness.”

Dimitri opened his mouth to speak. Nothing came out. Claude laughed, crinkling his eyes. It was fake. The happiness on his face didn’t reach his dark green eyes. His emerald eyes frosted over the more Dimitri stared at him.

“Is something wrong? Did your mind melt into the dark, again?”

Dimitri looked down, shameful. Another fake laugh spilled out of Claude’s mouth.

“I keep telling you, Your Foolishness, that thin string will snap if you don’t take care of your little problem. Then again, you don’t tend to think, do you?”

Dimitri glanced up at Claude. Claude smiled wider. He looked like an imperfect painting. Untouchable yet so beautiful. 

“What will you do if I’m gone, Your Beastliness? Surely you’d let me haunt you, too?”

_Not you. I don’t want-_

“Ah, now, don’t look at me like that. I won’t be leaving you anytime soon. I’ll stay, if only to watch your mind crumble under the weight of the world.”

_I don’t want you to stay for that reason, Khalid. I-_

Claude raised his eyebrows, feigning surprise.

“Why be selfish now? And using my name to convince me seems so callous of you, Boar Prince.”

Dimitri flinched.

_You said I could. I could be selfish and-_

“Did I? Anyway, I think we’re _perfect_ for each other.”

Claude sipped his tea again, blankly staring at Dimitri.

“We’re both such _great_ liars.”

The wooden walls and everything surrounding them gained a red hue. It began to melt. The table, the chairs, the tea cup.

Dimitri shot out of his bed, ripping his sheets. His heart hammered in his chest. He tried to breathe and ended up choking for his efforts. 

Dimitri shuddered, tightly hugging himself. He drew in a shaky, uneven inhale. Dimitri got up and held onto the bedpost to steady himself. The wood splintered. Dimitri tightly shut his eyes at a small pale corpse on his floor, glassy hazel eyes staring back at him. He reopened his eyes. Nothing was there. Just a normal wooden floor and a royal blue rug.

Nothing was there.

_Nothing was there._

Dimitri let go of his bedpost and hobbled over to his door. He opened it. If he was far more lucid, Dimitri would be amazed that his door stayed on its hinges. Dimitri stumbled a bit before walking properly. His mind roared, blacking out as luminous hands reached out to grab him. 

Dimitri blinked. He stood in front of a wooden door. Claude’s door. Dimitri blinked again, letting his tired eyes rove over to the doorknob. It was unlocked. Dimitri smiled dimly. When the night kept Dimitri awake, he often found solace in Claude’s room. As a result, the other boy began to unlock his door for him. 

Dimitri knocked five times, the sounds quiet. Unlike his mind, flashing imagery that didn’t exist. Unlike his ears, ringing with the screams of the dead. 

Two for the syllables of Claude’s real name. Three for the Academy’s three houses.

The doorknob twisted. The wooden door creaked open, revealing Claude. His curly brown locks tousled by sleep, forest green eyes vulnerable enough to show his tiredness. A yawn threatened to break out from his mouth. Claude stopped it with a drowsy smile. Claude gently tugged Dimitri’s wrist and pulled him inside his messy room.

Every night he came to Claude’s room, Dimitri tried to clean up for him. _Somehow,_ it only got messier by the time he visited Claude’s room again. 

Claude seemed to work out a plan in his sleepy little head. He nodded to himself, mumbling softly into the dark. Claude half-waddled to the white candle on his desk. He swiped a match from his half opened drawer and lit the candle. Claude turned to Dimitri again. He _tried_ to pick Dimitri up. Dimitri sputtered and the ghosts vanished in that second. Claude couldn’t handle Dimitri’s weight, straining his arms to carry him.

“Claude?”

Claude laughed lightly, ignoring him. He dropped the blonde onto his messy bed. Claude climbed into his bed, watching Dimitri. He slowly reached out for Dimitri and hugged him. Claude cradled Dimitri’s head into his neck, threading his fingers through his blonde hair.

“Another nightmare, Your-”

Dimitri must have reacted poorly because Claude recalculated his words.

“Dimitri, do you want to talk about it?” Claude asked softly, his voice a little rough from sleep.

After a long pause, Dimitri nodded. Claude hummed.

“I’d make tea, but I’m really tired.”

“My apologies, Claude.” 

Claude huffed out a laugh, “No need to say sorry, it’s not your fault you had a nightmare. Besides, I like our nightly talks.”

“I suppose, but-”

Dimitri’s words died in his throat as Claude smiled like the sun. 

“Yeah, I know it’s _super_ late, but hey, I’m glad you can come to me. Talking is hard.”

“Thank you.”

Dimitri sighed.

“It was Duscur, again. Remire, too.”

Claude held him tighter, saying nothing.

“Then you. You spoke to me, but there wasn’t any warmth in your voice. That version of you scared me because you were unreachable and so _cold._ ”

Claude exhaled against Dimitri’s hair. 

“I used to be that way with you. But things quickly changed. I was scared of things changing so fast, but I guess that fear died down the more,” Claude let out a quiet yawn, “more I got to know you. Don’t regret it, though. Can’t regret liking you.”

“You should.” 

It slipped out without Dimitri meaning to. More words tumbled out of his mouth, even though he tried to stop himself.

“I’m _not_ the good person everyone thinks I am. I’m nothing but a _liar._ A beast seeking revenge and _no one_ but Felix knows. Claude, if I let my anger consume me, there won’t be _anything_ left of me. I don’t,” Dimitri’s voice went quiet with thinly veiled devastation, “I don’t think I can control myself if I-”

“Dimitri,” Claude breathed out, silencing the twisting, nasty thoughts in Dimitri’s head, “I didn’t fall in love with a lie. I fell in love with _you._ At first, I planned to stay far, _far_ away from you. The darkness lingering in your eyes kept me away, well, that was until you punched a guy in the face for me.”

Dimitri flushed red, “He was in the wrong, treating you and Cyril like that.”

“No one else would have done that. Stepping in and stealing the show. You did, though. It got me curious. Eventually, I stopped looking back. Stopped looking for ulterior motives or ways to use your friendship to my advantage.”

Claude smiled into Dimitri’s hair.

“Then, you left hints of that darkness for me to find. You still do. The old me would have ran. But, I’m not afraid of you, not at all.”

“But-”

“Nope.”

“Claude!”

Claude ignored Dimitri, moving onto a different topic. He tended to change topics when he was tired, flip flopping from serious conversations to nonsensical stories. 

“You worried me today, you know. You were quiet all day. You get that way when you’re stressed out. When you don’t want to snap at anyone.”

“My apologies.”

Claude pat Dimitri’s head, “There’s nothing to apologize for.”

“Okay.”

Claude filled the silence with humming. Dimitri smiled. He hated quiet places as much as he despised loud, bustling noise. Cheers and clapping would trick his mind into thinking of the tragedy. The happy cheering would turn into haunting screams. Clapping and whistling morphing into heavy footfalls of murderous soldiers and crackling flames.

Silence served as a gateway for his ghosts to taunt him. Telling him to stop wasting his time. To _do_ something.

There was a middle ground. Not quite loud, not that quiet, either. Hushed songs from Almyra, muted sleep-deprived conversations.

“Claude?”

“Hm?”

“Will you stay with me? Even though I’m,” Dimitri’s voice trailed off, “like _this._ ”

“Yeah.”

Claude pulled the blanket over them, shuffling closer to Dimitri. He held him tighter as if he was trying to protect him, but to Dimitri it felt like he was being used as a teddy bear. He didn’t mind it. 

“Sleep well this time, Mitya. Punch nightmare Claude in the face if you see him. Goodnight.”

Dimitri huffed out a small laugh, “Goodnight, Khalid.”

Sleep quickly took Claude. Dimitri watched him with a light smile as his eyes drooped. He slowly blinked a few times before the night claimed him, as well.

* * *

“Where the _hell_ is the boar? Class starts in an hour.”

Sylvain laughed at Felix, who continued to ignore him. Felix marched along the second floor dormitory. The rest of the Blue Lions followed suit, worried.

After what happened in Remire village, there was a stark _shift_ in Dimitri’s behavior. It was subtle, only coming into play when Dimitri lost control of himself, which didn’t happen often.

But-

 _But,_ it did concern them. _All_ of them.

The Blue Lions stood in front of the last door they didn’t check. Felix huffed, pushing past them. He lunged for the doorknob and twisted it. The door opened. Sunlight spilled into the ungodly, messy room. A melting candle stick caught their attention. The candle was pine scented. To the left of the room was their answer. Dimitri peacefully slept, clinging onto Claude. His golden blonde hair haloed around him, giving him bedhead. The seething, quiet anger he had on his pale face melted in the sun, making him look his age. Drool trailed down his chin. Next to him, Claude slumbered away. 

Felix gently shut the door. 

“We’re going to class.” Felix announced, walking off.

They trailed after him, with Sylvain being the first person to follow.


End file.
